Economic confidence has helped to boost business advisory firm Deloitte's revenues by 6.7% in its North East and Yorkshire practice

Martin Jenkins, Deloitte practice senior partner in Yorkshire and North East

Business advisory firm Deloitte has grown revenues to £96m in its North East and Yorkshire practice – a lift of 6.7% - thanks to increasing client confidence.

On a national level the company’s net revenue grew by 3% to £2.13bn for the year ended May 2014, while gross reported revenue rose to £2.55bn, a 1.4% increase on the previous year’s revenue of £2.52bn.

Martin Jenkins, practice senior partner in Yorkshire and North East, which encompasses Newcastle and Leeds, said the firm had seen growth across all sectors.

He said: “Whilst the market environment has continued to present challenges, the economic tide has clearly turned and we are seeing confidence increase and willingness to invest across our client base, especially as liquidity has been strong in both debt and equity capital markets.

“Our practice in Yorkshire has seen growth across all businesses and our strategy of investing to grow our practice is reflected in the progress we have made in key sectors for our region such as financial services, manufacturing, consumer business and the public sector.

“Looking ahead, we expect that better economic conditions will result in significant improvements across our markets.”

During the period the business saw a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions, across both private equity and corporate clients, as well as IPO activity with the practice supporting clients such as Durham-based Kromek plc, now listed on AIM.

Mr Jenkins said much investment had also been made in staff, through promotions and the launch of several programmes, including Deloitte Access which involves the firm linking up with a Gateshead school to provide mentoring.

He said: “This has also been another year of investment in our people and in a prosperous future for the firm and our clients.

“We have promoted five new partners and nine new directors and in Newcastle we are looking to employ 100 people over the next two years within the national Audit Centre for Excellence which is a great example of near shoring.

“We will also be welcoming 50 new graduates and six Brightstarts (school leavers) into the practice in September. We were also delighted to be the first regional office to host the Deloitte CEO Growth Escalator Programme, part of our broader UK Futures Initiative, which seeks to help business leaders bridge the gap between their ambitions and outcomes in growth markets.

“We welcomed eight CEO’s from high potential regional businesses, including several from Yorkshire and the North East, to the one-day executive workshop, which is structured around interactive case discussions, plenary sessions and market insights.

“Our CSR agenda is very important to the firm and we launched Deloitte Access, a new skills and education programme with Teach First, supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to access professional employment.

“In the Yorkshire and North East practice we are working with Tong High School in Bradford and Cardinal Hume in Gateshead to provide tailored support and mentoring to help young people develop the skills needed to access the best possible opportunities after education. This programme is integral to our wider recruitment plans.

“It is essential that we attract people from a diversity of backgrounds and with different ways of thinking and this programme helps us do that.”